MAKING OF CHAMPS: The rules that keep Champs at the top

There is a thin line between success and failure at any athletics championship. On occasion, that difference could be created by iinfringements of a rule. Those rules at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs), on at the National Stadium, are dictated by the international governing body, World Athletics.

The arbiter of those rules at Champs is a 16-member Panel of Referees, headed by veteran track and field official Ian Forbes.

Forbes and the Panel of Referees are charged with ensuring the proper compliance and integrity of the meet.

Without these conditions of competitions, junior records set by the young athletes will not be ratified by World Athletics, meaning their hard work would be in vain.

The first set of eyes ensuring compliance of the rules are track umpires, the officials seen with yellow flags, which they raise whe signalling an infringement, whether on the running track or in the field.

Having spotted the infringement, they submit a written report to the Panel of Referees, which includes the rule alleged to have been breached, a sketch of the breach, the point at which the infringement took place, the athlete’s number and name.

That’s when Forbes’ team ups the ante by investigating to see if the athlete’s action actually breached the rules and decide whether the umpire’s decision should be upheld.

Their decision is submitted to the results area, where the disqualification is announced and posted as part of the official results. The schools have 30 minutes to file an appeal, which can initially be verbal, but must also be lodged formally in writing, citing reasons for their protest.

“The coaching staff or the management team for the 'offending school' would therefore make an assessment to see whether or not they agree with that ruling. If not, they would pretty much file a protest with the referees. It would be looked at again by the refs and, of course, once they are convinced that they would have ruled correctly in the first place, they would then have the right to appeal to the Jury of Appeal to appeal the decision of the referees. The jury would do their investigation, look at whatever video footage or other evidence to come to a determination. Thereafter, they would rule, and the jury’s decision is final,” Forbes told The Gleaner.

The stakes are high, often with a Champs decider, but schools must consider their protest carefully, as the standard international cost is US$100, according to Forbes.

The officials are not required to be as fit as the athletes, but the job is a rigorous one, with referees required to log several miles over the five-day championships. And just like the athletes, preparation work began even before the first event took place on Tuesday.

Their job also includes validating records, including in the field, where the steel measuring tool is employed to double-check a record mark.

Forbes, who is also the manager of Jamaica College, his alma mater, has generational involvement in the sport, as his late father was a treasurer and assistant secretary of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, (JAAA).

“I have been officiating since I was about five or six years old. They brought me here very young. I started tying. When they had a tape across the track, I ran across, tied it, crouched, so as not to impede the judges or timekeepers. That’s where I started, and I worked my way through to anemometrist, or wind gauge reader, then assistant meet manager, then assistant competitions director. I was the assistant competitions director when we hosted the World Junior Track and Field Championships in 2002. So I have been at it from I was very young. I grew up in the sport, and the work continues,” Forbes told The Gleaner as we caught up with him at the National Stadium, midway one of those treks up the long flight of steps.

World Athletics keeps reinventing the rules, in keeping with global trends, so track and field officials must keep pace.

“One has to keep abreast of the requisite, of the training opportunities, the bulletins, etc, and just be au fait with the ever-changing, very dynamic situation; ‘cause you know rules change pretty much almost every day, so one has to be very careful.”

Forbes and others have given long and yeoman service to the sport, but himself and others in his generation will no doubt soon enjoy retirement:

“It took a while, but I am confident now that we are on the right path. There has been an infusion of younger talent and, of course, gender equity as well. We have far more female officials, which is excellent. So I think it augers well for the sport, but we always need to refresh and bring others along, and look at succession planning as well.”

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com